Nothing in the loft extension is square or level, the studwork was not constructed correctly, had to be dismantled and rebuilt. I gave the exact size of the door frames so that the liners fit, they were completely out, had to be replaced. The tongue and grove floorboards were not installed incorrectly (easy work) some end lengths did not land on joists, needless to say these snapped and had to be replaced. The guttering was not installed correctly on the first floor and again had to be altered. The staircase was a complete shambles. The stairs were installed to the wrong level initially and had to be dismantled. Instead of installing a new set of strings, given the pitch adjustment, they cut packers and hit them home to secure the steps. The strings were not fastened to the masonry, so we had to use lightning bolts to ensure they were safe. There was no string for the winding steps at the bottom and hence no way of finishing with a skirting. The base newel post was not long enough and did not reach the floor level, this was placed this on top of some timber i.e. clearly visible that the post is too short and suspended on a timber frame, I had to bodge something together to recover some sort of finish. In addition, no thought was given to the top balustrade as the stud wall was so close that there was no room for 9mm plasterboard let alone skim. We had to remove the balustrade and all the spindles to come to a practical solution. DLS also replaced the newel post and handrails on the first floor which again was bodged, half the post cut down and new post attached with a couple of screws horsed in. To top it all off Raed had the audacity to ask for more money for this staircase as it was a custom built (piece of utter tripe) that would look amazing varnished. There is absolutely no way we can repair this back to a point that we can varnish it. The works were on and off, there was no project manager from DLS who was overseeing or directing work. There were constant requests for extra money for jobs that were clearly discussed from the outset. Raed continually used the excuse that he priced the job competitively (which frankly is his problem) but his price was with the market in fact he was the middle ground. To DLS’ defence Read did suffer an illness throughout the build which left him incapable of manging the project and hence I had to finish portions myself (which was no problem as I was able to control the finish and workmanship). Unfortunately I made the mistake of giving a portion of the final payment upfront to DLS and hence had to fork out for the remainder of the materials and labour on top. They are no longer on the project and still request payment for items that he was meant to supply. Furthermore, they threaten to withhold my electrical certificate until I pay for more ‘additional work’. They caused damage to my neighbours’ property which was never rectified, and I have since had to complete at my own expense. Thankfully, the plasterer I organised myself knew some trusted contacts that were able to rectify all the appalling work conducted by DLS Builders Ltd (at my own expensive I might add). Unfortunately it goes to show that you can read reviews on check-a-trade, even call some of the references provided and still end up with a completely incompetent contractor.
Professional, honest and great value of work. The quality of the work finished by DLS was exceptional and worth every penny. I have recommended my close family members to use him for building work.
